By Rick Dean
The Capital-Journal

Mid-week musings while lending a hand to the guy -- whom we affectionately know as The Big Boss Who Approves Our Cost of Living Adjustments -- who normally writes in this space.

• I mean it, we're really giving him a hand, as his right one went under the knife Tuesday to repair damage done when he tried to catch a falling ceramic pot, missed and gashed his hand on the broken pottery.

• How times change. Twenty years ago, The Big Boss didn't let anything get past him as one of the most sure-handed first basemen I've ever seen play in city league 659, where our slow-pitch team toiled.

• I suspect he didn't have that oversized first baseman's glove when he tried to grab that vase.

• I thought I'd like this column format of his, where every note is a separate paragraph with its own square thingy in front.

• I was wrong. Too many square thingys and not enough square thinking.

• I hope he recovers quickly and is writing here again next week.

• From this week's mailbag: "In my opinion, Michael Bishop is the perfect quarterback to fill the hole left by Elvis Grbac. Bishop is young, mobile, quick-thinking and would easily fit under the salary cap. He has many K-State fans that would buy tickets to see him at Arrowhead Stadium. Isn't the bottom line in professional sports to maximize sellout potential?.

• "As the starting quarterback for the Frankfurt Galaxy, Bishop has been putting up very respectable numbers. He is the highest-rated quarterback in NFL Europe, and he is known and loved all over the world. I look forward to reading your comments."

• You're talking to a semi-converted member of the choir. Three weeks ago I wrote that the Chiefs -- back when they didn't have a quarterback -- ought to consider trading with New England for Bishop. Not necessarily as a starter, but as a change-of-pace backup who could provide a different style, a spark, coming off the bench.

• But the Chiefs have since acquired two veteran QBs. A Bishop deal ain't gonna happen here.

• Not a good point, either, making your pitch based on increased ticket sales. The Chiefs don't have the available tickets to sell to K-State fans or anybody else.

• Bishop's numbers are all right, but bear examination. In three games he's completed 50 percent of his 73 passes for 557 yards, five TDs with only one interception. No surprise, he's also rushed for a bunch of yards.

• Oh, and one more thing.

• Did we mention that the Galaxy is yet to win in three games?

• It's interesting, in light of budget shortcomings that made Kansas drop men's swimming and tennis and which ultimately forced Bob Frederick to walk away from the athletic director's job for which he was imminently qualified, that KU found the money to give women's basketball coach Marian Washington a significant raise in her new contract, a three-year package reportedly worth at least $210,000 annually.

• Think it's safe to say she wasn't being rewarded for last year's 12-17 season?

• OK, so let's be fair and point out that Washington has had 17 seasons with 20 or more victories and only six losing seasons.

• Still, where's all that money coming from? It sure ain't being generated by women's basketball.

• I know, I know.

• For the first time in her 28-year career at KU, Washington has a radio contract expected to pay at least $35,000.

• Advertising time on Marian's radio show must be a hot buy.

• Raise your hand, any of your Arbitron ratings families out there, if you've ever listened to it?

Rick Dean can be reached at (785) 295-1289 or rdean@cjonline.com.